Zirui Neil Zhao

Zirui Neil Zhao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in computer architecture, security, and cloud computing. Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher at NVIDIA Research after completing his PhD at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

His academic journey includes:

• PhD in Computer Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2024), advised by Prof. Josep Torrellas
• BS in Applied Physics, University of Science and Technology of China (2018), School of the Gifted Young (Yan Jici Talent Program)

Dr. Zhao's research centers on side-channel attacks and defenses across cloud-computing stacks, with breakthroughs including end-to-end attacks in Google Cloud (ASPLOS 2024) and low-noise side channels in Intel CPUs (USENIX Security 2022). His defense strategies span information theory, cache systems, OS design, program analysis, and data-oblivious programming, aiming to build attack-resistant public clouds. His work bridges theoretical rigor with real-world cloud environments.

His 15 recent publications (2018-2025) reveal a dominant focus on hardware-software security interfaces, evolving from symbolic execution tools to cutting-edge cloud-side-channel research. Key trends include practical attack demonstrations in production clouds, defense frameworks for speculative execution, and cross-layer mitigation strategies from hardware to programming models, consistently targeting real-world deployability.

His accolades include:

• W. J. Poppelbaum Memorial Award for architectural creativity (UIUC, 2023)
• IEEE Micro Top Picks 2025 and 2024 Honorable Mention
• Top Picks in Hardware and Embedded Security 2024

Actively recruiting graduate students for hardware/system security research, Dr. Zhao teaches ECE 382N: Security at the Hardware-Software Interface (Fall 2025). His service includes program committees for CCS 2025, HPCA 2024, and Top Picks in Hardware Security 2024. While specific grants aren't detailed, his prolific output in top venues (ASPLOS, ISCA, MICRO, USENIX Security) indicates robust research support. His lab focuses on practical cloud security challenges within UT Austin's ECE ecosystem.